I have a PIII 750 256k notebook running Windows ME I just received a windows XP upgrade. I am running XP on my desk top and it seems to be okay. I am going to upgrade the notebook, and I was wondering if any of you have any advice. I know I have read on another thread that it might be best to reformat the hard drive and then install the new OS. Have any of you done this? Any advice or suggestions before I "jump in"? Thanks in advance for any advice.
You don't necessarily have to reformat the hard drive, although that is the cleanest and optimal way to install a new OS, as there is usually residual "leftovers" from the previous OS on the hard drive if you upgrade over it. However, if that is something you don't want to do, you should still be okay upgrading without formatting. As long as all your hardware is compatible with XP you shouldn't experience any hitches with the install. Of course, XP will check your system before installing and inform you of any incompatible hardware on your system, so as long as that's okay it should install fine.
When you update your notebook to XP, and some of the programs started not working, check for 2 things. 1. the property of the program is not set to win98/Me mode 2. if you upgrade from win98/ME then you may reverse #1. If you find your laptop is slow, turn off icon animation, and other "optional" features that make anything before P4 feels slow.
Thanks for the responses Lawrence and zboy. One thing that seemed odd, the upgrade instructions that came from Gateway say that the upgrade from XP to ME can be reversed by uninstalling XP using the control panel - Add or Remove Programs. Does that mean that ME is still there? I guess maybe I will upgrade, and then if I have problems I will reformat. Any other suggestions?
Yes, in that case ME is still on your hard drive. However, I think there is an option during XP installation where you can choose whether to keep the old OS or not.
Beware of XP tho'. It creates savesets as you install sw which may hog unneccessary space - which is particularly important if you have a laptop. Trust me I have found out the hard way However luckily you can turn this feature off. Regards, Splat
WinXP is a space hog anyway. I would not install it over an old OS since it would take too much space and WinXP comes with TONS of files you cannot reorganize yourself (I mean it becomes difficult to remove the old ME when you have "overriden" it). BTW, I would not switch to WinXP again. It takes too much of your system and has lots of security bugs. If you got Win2k, stick with it for trading purposes.